Chinese word

潦草

Pronunciation

Pinyinliáo cǎo

Meaning

  • adjectivesloppy

Example

这份报告写得很潦草，需要修改。zhè fèn bào gào xiě de hěn liáo cǎo xū yào xiū gǎi

This report is very sloppily written and needs revision.

Illustration for 潦草 (sloppy)

More examples

那个程序员处理得很潦草，经常留下漏洞。nà ge chéng xù yuán chú lǐ de hěn liáo cǎo jīng cháng liú xià lòu dòng

That programmer handles things very sloppily and often leaves bugs.

Core concept

Something made in a hurried, rough form, with untidy details showing that little care went into the result.

Common phrases

  • 处理得潦草chú lǐ de liáo cǎo

    handle things sloppily

  • 笔迹潦草bǐ jì liáo cǎo

    sloppy handwriting

  • 做事潦草zuò shì liáo cǎo

    do things sloppily

Similar words

马虎má hǔ: Done without enough care or attention to small details.
草率cǎo shuài: Done or decided too quickly, without enough thought, preparation, or care.
粗心cū xīn: Lacking attention to detail and therefore prone to minor errors and oversights.
敷衍fū yǎn: Handled in a merely formal way, with little real effort or seriousness.

Definition in Chinese

用来形容做事或写作草率、缺乏细致和认真，常指笔迹或文稿不工整、应付了事。yòng lái xíng róng zuò shì huò xiě zuò cǎo shuài quē fá xì zhì hé rèn zhēn cháng zhǐ bǐ jì huò wén gǎo bù gōng zhěng yìng fù liǎo shì

Word origin

The concrete use of 潦草 (liáocǎo, "sloppy") for scrawled writing broadened into a judgment of careless or perfunctory work.

Usage tips

  • The word can describe work that is still readable or usable, so it does not automatically mean that the result is wrong or impossible to understand.

Other meanings

  • halfheartedadjective
  • scrawledadjective

Opposites

Word lists with this word